BTB - Issue 5 To coat or not to coat?
Beyond the Bale - Issue 5
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To coat or not to coat?
An AWI study has found that sheep coats lift wool returns by an average $3.40 and greatly reduce problems for topmakers.
The project - to determine the economic viability of using the coats - was initiated by the Gairdner Sheep Improvement Group in Western Australia and led by recently retired WA woolgrower, Ian Campbell.
Mr Campbell said the aim was to assess the overall performance of the coats in reducing dust and vegetable matter contamination, animal health issues, and the effect, if any, on chemical treatments.
Animal production issues and any advantages in terms of processing were also examined.
The results of the project, which examined more than 1200 sheep in six flocks in Western Australia, were released at Wagin Woolarama in WA.
Mr Campbell said while more work needed to be done on the design of the coats, it had been found they could introduce new levels of efficiency for woolgrowers if used over a strategic six-month period.
"The coats had protected against flystrike and fleece rot, reducing the need for chemical treatments and hence, reducing the handling needs of the animal and allowed for a reduction in labour needs to manage the health and vitality of the sheep flock."
Mr Campbell also believes sheep coats may help in the push for softer wool with less prickle factor.
"The coated sheep produced finer ends that were 1.8 micron finer than the uncoated sheep. With more research, we will be able to further investigate this area."
He said woolgrowers now needed to grasp the implications of this research and assess whether sheep coats would suit their needs.
Potential benefits of sheep coats:
- Increased wool returns by $3.40 a head on average.
- Improved overall wool yield, reduced vegetable matter contamination and dramatically reduced the incidence of fleece rot, dermatitis and body strike.
- Reduced dust and suint index, without effecting the wax index.
- Yielded significantly more top from greasy wool, with a longer hauter than non-coated fleeces.
- Lower levels of vegetable matter in scoured wool and top.
- Did not greatly affect live weight, greasy fleece weight, clean fleece weight, staple length, staple strength or calculated romaine.
- Halved the rate of breakdown of pesticides in the fleece.
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